Mamma Oca va a Hollywood

This was a wonderful idea for a Disney (or non-Disney)cartoon. It was very creative to portray the latest Hollywood stars as characters from the classic nursery rhymes. I was reading someone else's comments and they mentioned that understanding this short's humor would take a lot of knowledge of the Hollywood stars of the 30's. I do agree with them. Many of those stars were unknown to me, but I could identify quite a few of them. Let's see! There was Katherine Hepburn portrayed as Little Bo Peep. W.C. Fields is portrayed as Humptey Dumpty with the puppet Charlie McCarthey making clever jokes about him. In the nursery rhyme about the seesaw, there was Edward G. Robinson and Greta Garbo going up and down. Simple Simon was portrayed by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy was the pieman. The scene at the beginning is humorous where Mother Goose takes the place of the MGM lion. Then, there is a disclaimer that reads: ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ACTUAL PERSONALITIES PORTRAYED IN THIS PICTURE, LIVING OR DEAD, IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.

Back in the 1930s and 1940s, various animation departments (chief among them being Warner Brothers) made cartoons that used caricatures of well-known celebrities (movies stars, principally) as characters. This is the best of Disney's efforts and was nominated for an Oscar. The main problem with this cartoon is that, unless you not only remember your nursey rhymes, but are reasonaby up on movie stars and movies of the 1930s, you miss quite a bit of the humor. Still holds up reasonably well after more than 60 years. Recommended to any movie buffs and/or someone reading Mother Goose for whatever reason.

I just recently (as of today) discovered a blog devoted to Cab Calloway called The Hi-De-Ho Blog. One section showcases caricatures of the legendary entertainer in various cartoons from Max Fleischer (whose shorts Cab actually was involved in), Warner Bros., M-G-M, and this one from Walt Disney in which Mother Goose characters are depicted as Hollywood celebrities. Mr. Calloway is one of the "four blackbirds in a pie sequence" and while that may have an unfortunate stereotypical connotation (which may be true of some of the white celebrities too), seeing "Cab", "Fats", and "Louis" do their musical stuff was enjoyable. The only real negative portrayal of an African-American here was that of the lazy, shiftless, Stepin Fetchit character. Other depictions of celebrities I liked were that of W.C. Fields with Charlie McCarthy with Fields as Humpty Dumpty, The Marx Brothers sans Zeppo as the Fidlers Three (Harpo appears here as a redhead and not a blonde), and Laurel and Hardy as Simple Simon and the Pieman with welcome use of Marvin Hatley's L & H musical theme "The Cukoo Song (Dance of the Cukoos)". If there's one celebrity that may be obscure even to old movie buffs, it might be that of Joe Penner whose catchphrase "Wanna buy a duck?" anticipates a very familiar Disney character. So despite some negative stereotypical characterizations, I recommend Mother Goose Goes Hollywood for any animation buff especially those of old-time movie star caricatures.

This Disney animated short puts Hollywood stars of the 1930's into roles from Mother Goose stories. For example W.C. Fields is Humpty Dumpty and the Marx Brothers are the fidlers three. I'm sure much of this film's humor depended on a knowledge of the stars of the day. Today it's just not as amusing. Still, the animation is wonderful. Donald Duck does make a cameo appearance. The version Disney shows on TV has obviously had pieces edited.

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

MOTHER GOOSE GOES Hollywood when a collection of animated celebrities spoof the characters in wacky interpretations of famous old Nursery Rhymes.

Aided by excellent voice artists, the Disney animators get to display their caricaturing talents in this very enjoyable cartoon. This was not as easy as it looks, melding the personality of the celebrity with the persona of the Nursery character and leaving them both recognizable. And it gets even more complicated than that. In the 3 Men In A Tub sequence, the celebrity is also spoofing a famous movie role they've played (Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, Spencer Tracy as Manuel in CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS & Freddie Bartholomew as David COPPERFIELD). That Disney was able to pull off these characterizations in the space of only a few seconds speaks volumes for the high level of expertise attained by the Studio.

Movie mavens will love spotting & naming each animated celebrity. Others will have a difficult time, since many of these stars are now rather obscure. Here, for the record, is a listing of the celebrity spoofs: Katharine Hepburn as Little Bo Peep; Hugh Herbert as Old King Cole; Groucho, Chico & Harpo Marx as the Fiddlers Three; Ned Sparks as the King's Jester; Joe Penner as the King's Servant; Donald Duck as himself; Charles Laughton, Spencer Tracy & Freddie Bartholomew as the 3 Men In A Tub; W. C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty; Charlie McCarthy as himself; Stan Laurel as Simple Simon; Oliver Hardy as the Pieman; Edward G. Robinson & Greta Garbo in See Saw Margery Daw; Wallace Beery as Little Boy Blue; Edna May Oliver, Mae West & ZaSu Pitts as the trumpeters; Clark Gable as the flautist; George Arliss as the saxophonist; Joe E. Brown & Martha Raye as the jitterbug dancers. Apparently, unedited versions of the cartoon also feature 'appearances' by Fred Astaire, Cab Calloway, Eddie Cantor, Stepin Fetchit & Fats Waller.

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most interesting of series in the field of animation. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.